U.S. BRIEFS

COURTS

CHEVRON CORP. said a court sustained its right to pursue its claim that Pennzoil Co.'s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission contain misrepresentations about Pennzoil's intentions regarding purchase of 8.8% of Chevron stock and that the misrepresentations violate securities laws. Chevron said the part of the suit the court dismissed will have no significant effect on its case.

DRILLING-PRODUCTION

CHUSKA ENERGY CO., San Antonio, and Magellan Petroleum Corp. completed 1 Anasazi in San Juan County, Utah. A 24 ft section of Pennsylvanian Desert Creek at about 5,500 ft flowed at the rate of 1,635 b/d of oil on an 8 hr test through 1 in. choke. A shallower 56 ft Desert Creek pay flowed 705 b/d. Site is 1/2 mile north of Chuska 1 Saghzie, producing 350 b/d of oil (OGJ, Nov. 6, 1989, p. 20). The wells are in Greater Aneth field area on the Navajo Indian Reservation.

MCDERMOTT MARINE CONSTRUCTION completed a joint industry research project in which its dynamically positioned Derrick Barge 50 drove a test piling in 3,300 ft of water. Before the test, the deepest piles of this size were driven in 1,700 ft of water. A McDermott handling system that allowed simultaneous lowering of a Menck hammer and pile will make it possible to lower larger templates and heavier weights to the seabed.

LONG TRUSTS, Kilgore, Tex., bought the majority interest in 16 East Texas field leases from Woodbine Production Corp., Kilgore. The leases contain 39 producing oil wells.

ARCO let a contract to McDermott Marine Construction, Amelia, La., for fabrication of a 12 slot jacket and installation in August 1990 of the jacket, drilling/production deck, and rig packages in Mississippi Canyon Block 486 in the Gulf of Mexico. Water depth averages 1,200 ft, but the platform will be set in 600 ft of water on a bathymetric high. ARCO has discoveries on adjacent Blocks 486, 487, and 530 (see map, OGJ, Nov. 13, 1989, p. 22).

MATADOR PETROLEUM CORP., Dallas, plans to rework several wells on a 1,500 acre gas producing lease it acquired in Diamond Mound field, Eddy County, N.M. Matador also bought an interest in nine gas wells in Roger Mills County, Okla. Sellers were not disclosed.

BENTON OIL & GAS CO., Ventura, Calif., plans to develop and extend Pershing field, Osage County, Okla., during several years starting in July by drilling as many as 125 oil producing and water injection wells in phases covering 160-320 acres. Benton paid Marmac Resources Co., Los Angeles, $700,000 for a one-half interest in the field, acquiring net reserves of about 210,000 bbl of oil.

APACHE CORP. plans a southeast offset to 1-12 Drummond, in Marshall County, Okla., a 3/4 mile southeast extension of Aylesworth field in the Ardmore basin. It flowed 592 b/d of oil and 607 Mcfd of gas through a 24/64 in. choke with 390 psi flowing casing pressure from 151 net ft of pay in gross perforations at 4,550-4,744 ft in Ordovician Tulip Creek sandstone.

PRIDE PETROLEUM SERVICES INC., Houston, acquired the fixed assets of Ranger Well Service Inc. and East Texas Packer Sales and Service Inc. The deal brings Pride's fleet to 365 onshore service rigs. Ranger operated 23 rigs in East Texas.

DELTAUS CORP., Tyler, Tex., completed reorganization, emerged from bankruptcy, and will be merged into and conduct all business under the name Delta Drilling Co. Delta owns 35 land rigs with capacities of 6,000-25,000 ft, 20-22 of which are operating, the company's highest utilization rate in more than 5 years.

ENVIRONMENT

INFINITE RESEARCH, Lakeport, Calif., and two other companies developed a marine spill cleanup system capable of removing as much as 42,000 gal/min of oil. Apollo 1, a 10,800 ton toxic waste incinerator ship mothballed 4 years, is prepared for fitting with the skimming system. The other companies are Alaska Gulf Marine Services and Newallta Ltd. hazardous waste division.

ALTERNATE FUELS

CALIFORNIA ENERGY CO., San Francisco, is negotiating to acquire certain of Chevron Resources Co.'s geothermal operations and properties in Nevada and Utah.

CHEVRON RESOURCES CO. will place on standby its Mount Taylor uranium mine near Grants, N.M., while it continues to attempt to sell the mine. The mine was producing 125,000 lb/month of uranium yellowcake.

DYNAMIS INC. let a $19 million contract to Hadson Corp.'s Ultrasystems Engineers & Constructors Inc. to engineer and build a 40,000 kw gas turbine combined cycle/biomass power plant in Sanger, Calif., near Fresno. Completion is expected by July 1, 1991.

COGENERATION

CNG ENERGY CO., Pittsburgh, acquired a 25% interest in two 50,000 kw gas fired cogeneration plants under construction and due to start up in first half 1990 near Stockton and Bakersfield, Calif. CNG's interests were acquired as part of two limited partnerships formed with affiliates of PSE Inc., Houston, and Dominion Resources Inc., Richmond, Va.

TRANSPORTATION

GRACE ENERGY CORP.'S Support Terminal Services Inc. acquired a 570,000 bbl, 33 tank product terminal in Texas City, Tex., from Unitank Terminal Service. The acquired terminal has been combined with Support Terminal's adjacent 1.153 million bbl, 87 tank StanTrans terminal.

MONTANA POWER CO. sought Montana Public Service Commission approval to adopt open transportation on its gas system and unbundle its utility services and rates. Montana Power proposes to continue offering firm gas supplies and transportation to its core customers, which account for about 65% of its sales of 26 bcf/year.

CONSUMERS POWER CO., Jackson, Mich., reported December 1989 gas deliveries of 53.5 bcf, the highest for any December in its 103 years in business. Total 1989 gas deliveries of 303 bcf, up 5.6% from 1988, were the highest since 1981.

PROCESSING

AMOCO CHEMICAL CO. let a contract to Davy McKee Corp. to engineer, procure, and build phase two of a paraxylene debottlenecking and polybutane feed wash system at its Texas City, Tex., plant. The addition should be complete in less than 1 year.

ACQUISITIONS

ASEA BROWN BOVERI INC., Purchase, N.Y., reported the Justice Department closed its investigation of the potential effect of ABB's December 1989 acquisition of Combustion Engineering Inc. on the U.S. market for air pollution control equipment. Justice took no action.